Motorcity Mayhem!

Wow, so it has been a long time since I have posted a blog. A lot has been happening since my last post. We had ReefEd, a big ole conference in Denver put on by MASC. We had Matt Pedersen, world renown fish breeder, and Eric Borneman, world renown coral expert as speakers. I also was slated to give 2 presentations, one for new hobbyists, and another on Reef Pests. Unfortunately the other speakers' presentation went way over on time, and I had to cut my Pest presentation out of the mix. We had some local wet vendors that showed up, a kick-ass raffle, and some killer mexican food made by one of our own members that stole the whole show. It was pretty cool, however the member turn out was pretty dismal.

After ReefEd, i worked in Denver for a week. Saw some cool shops, didnt get any pics. Ill have to work on that the next time I am home.

Next I was in Houston. I HATE Houston. I dont know what it is about it. Maybe it is the fact that it is the 4th largest city in the US. Maybe it is the fact that the last time I was working in Houston I had a horribly painful ear infection. Who knows what it is. However, even in my dismay, there are a few awesome shops. Ill post pics of my 3 faves over the next couple days while I am in my hotel.

I am currently in Detroit, which I am also not a huge fan of, for the Midwest Marine Conference. The show set up was this evening and runs Saturday and Sunday. The conference is being held at the Cranbrook Institute of Science, which is a kick ass museum tucked inside a wooded area north of Detroit. Elizabeth from our home office and I are out here for the conference, and took a little tour of the museum tonight. It was awesome! They had a freaking shrunken head in their collection!

We visited one shop while we were here in Detroit. The shop is called Stingray Bay. Greg, the owner of the shop is an awesome guy with a cool shop. Greg has a mated pair of Freshwater stingrays that consistently give live birth to babies. I believe that the species he successfully breeds are Potamotrygon leopoldi. Here are a couple of pics of the parents and their babies:

The Female saying hi at the front of the tank

Another shot of the female. This girl was easily 2ft in diameter and probably 8" thick!

A bad pic of the babies. Sorry for the poor quality.

Female in the foreground, Male in the background. The female was super active, would cruise the tank and "blow" in the gravel hunting for food. The male just sat around and let the lady do whatever she wanted.

So thats it for now. Ill try and snap some pics of the conference tomorrow, and get them posted up along with some shots of the shops in Houston.

Cheers~!